With the Sandbox Succession Project, we will study microbial communities in hundreds of sand-filled test tubes (the “sandboxes”) hosted by teacher and student citizen scientists across the continental U.S. Over a year, we will use DNA sequencing and microscopy to monitor how the microorganisms in these sandboxes change over time.
If you are a middle or high school teacher, we need your help hosting a sandbox! We are looking for teachers from across the U.S. to help us. The project is free and requires minimal time commitment – less than 3 hours in total.
The Experiment At a Glance:
Timeline: Late Spring/Early Summer 2018-Spring 2019
Time Commitment: 20 minutes for initial setup, plus 20 minutes 4 times throughout the year.
Experiment dimensions: About 12” x 9” x 6”.
Cost: Free – we will provide all materials and postage.
Special Requirements: Access to a flat roof or other undisturbed location on which to set up the experiment.
How It Works
At the beginning of the study, we will send you a rack of 40 sand-filled test tubes. You will secure the rack on a flat roof away from interfering objects (such as vents) and remove the lids from the test tubes (max. 20 min. project set-up time). The sandbox will stay outside for a year. Every 4 months, we will send you a sampling kit and provide you with return postage to return samples to us at no charge. At each sampling time, participants will remove 10 tubes from the rack and place them in plastic ziplock bags (provided in the sampling kit) to send back to our lab for microbial analysis.